To acknowledge 4/20, known as "Weed Day," Snapchat created a special "lens" that morphed people's faces into Bob Marley, the late reggae icon. The lens added dreadlocks, a crochet slouch cap, changed the shape of eyes and noses, and darkened skin color.

People flooded Twitter with accusations that Snapchat had created a blackface filter....

And this is why we need marijuana.

If that last remark is hard to understand, I refer you to my March 24, 2015 post, where I revealed that "In the last couple days, my position on the legalization of marijuana has changed."

Oddly enough, it's because of something I read about Ibsen! I don't have the time right now to explain my train of thought, but I can give you the passage — from Paul Johnson's "Intellectuals" — that got me started on it:

There was one aspect of Ibsen’s vanity which verged on the ludicrous... He had a lifelong passion for medals and orders. In fact, he went to embarrassing lengths to get them...

[T]here is ample evidence for Ibsen’s passion since he insisted on displaying his growing galaxy of stars on every possible occasion. As early as 1878 he is reported to have worn all of them, including one like a dog-collar round his neck, at a club dinner. The Swedish painter Georg Pauli came across Ibsen sporting his medals (not the ribbons alone but the actual stars) in a Rome street. At times he seems to have put them on virtually every evening. He defended his practice by saying that, in the presence of ‘younger friends’, it ‘reminds me that I need to keep within certain limits.’ All the same, people who had invited him to dinner were always relieved when he arrived without them, as they attracted smiles and even open laughter as the wine circulated....

What struck me and changed my mind on the subject was the realization — as I put it in the comments — that "freedom and democracy depend on our disinhibition; we need to be able to laugh at authority."

24 comments:

Because generations ago white entertainers used makeup to play black characters rather than give black entertainers jobs, whites must forever use nothing but the sun to darken their skin. All else is racism.

How does the Onion stay in business in this atmosphere? Is there a limit to the tolerance of stupidity? Is there ever a point when large numbers of the non-stupid will decide they've had enough and tell the truth, consequences be damned?

Empowering the "Victim" has become a total Tyranny attacking any hint that victimhood is part of life and is sort of funny. It has reached the French Revolution Days of Terror level. Can a Napoleon be far behind.

"It's not enough that they can not use it. No one can be allowed to use it."

That's actually how a lot of American conservatives view marijuana, narcotics (in general), pornography and a whole host of other social behaviors. It's weird how quickly liberals and conservatives adopt each other's arguments.

"freedom and democracy depend on our disinhibition; we need to be able to laugh at authority." Depends on the nature of the authority: if it's non-Prog authority, laugh all you want; if it's Prog authority, get with the program. And if you show any "disinhibition" toward Prog-approved Others, laugh at your own risk.

Perhaps we're paying too much attention to randos on the internet who take offense at everything. I'm sure people involved with the SJ movement realize that harping about a silly snapchat filter isn't going to help weed out systemic problems.

"A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life. The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is ‘Yes, I am ugly, and you daren't laugh at me’, like the bully who makes faces at his victim. Why is the goose-step not used in England? There are, heaven knows, plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used because the people in the street would laugh."

What struck me and changed my mind on the subject was the realization — as I put it in the comments — that "freedom and democracy depend on our disinhibition; we need to be able to laugh at authority."

You're somewhat at cross purposes here. America's marijuana prohibition is one of the most laughable aspects of authority.

It's not just our ability to laugh at authority. Marijuana also helps us to be paranoid, of authority, of each other, of aliens. It increases our rate of automobile accidents, thus helping our ability to drive defensively and avoid high drivers. It helps increase our medical bills for lung cancer, since marijuana smokers shouldn't be made to pay for such things. It helps people who want jobs to get jobs, since marijuana smokers can't be troubled to get out of bed, man.

It helps our surfing industry. Which isn't huge yet, but soon California will make marijuana tots legal and then boom.

And let's not forget hemp and how awesome everything hemp is. Ever since Colorado and Washington made marijuana legal, the hemp industry has absolutely exploded.... Oh wait, nevermind. Scratch that last one.

I read your link. It's pretty interesting how cannabis has been shown to kill cancel cells.

First, they give the mice enough money to buy a dime bag. Then they pick up some of the good stuff from the local weed seller. Finally, they give the mice cancer and then they light up and smoke and smoke and smoke and the cancer goes away.

Personally I don't have a position on the legalization of pot, just as long is it is illegal to smoke in public as it is illegal to be publicly intoxicated. I can't stand the odor or drugged out people.

I was told a long time ago that if you meditate you should not do drugs. Doing so is like taking a bath to get clean and then jumping into a mud puddle. My own interpretation of that is if you try to get rid of harmful toxins from your diet and environment why then ingest them (for a temporary high)? Better to meditate (or pray or whatever brings you peace) regularly and achieve a permanent state of equanimity. But this isn't common knowledge and not likely to be.